This morning's Times reports that New Orleans is experiencing an unexpected change. Traditionally, NOLA has been a city with very little immigrant population -- frankly, while it was hard for old residents to leave it was even harder for new residents without an existing stream of support.
Suddenly, immigrants are doing an enormous amount of the rebuilding work and finding New Orleans so comfortable as to have babies, a real boom of babies. But the hospitals haven't been rebuilt fast enough to help. The Charity hospitals, which would normally take on most of the uninsured cases, are particularly far behind in rebuilding. The biggest impact for the expecting moms may be the lack of any sort of prenatal care for the babies. Instead, they show up when they go into labor and can no longer be refused.
It wouldn't be a surprise to see this growth in the hispanic population become a permanent change in the city. After all, many who left after the storm have vowed never to return. And the rebuilding is going to last decades. But this change will clearly impact the culture and the image of this city in ways that are, today, still unpredictable.
PS - When we talk about "Waves" in a Post-Katrina
environment, we do not mean this Katrina and the Waves.
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